ODBCdl4 Client Setup

Overview

The ODBCdl4 software consists of a server module and Windows client driver which together provide read-only access to the SAI database from within any Microsoft Windows compliant application that supports ODBC data access. Some examples of such applications are: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Monarch, Crystal Reports.

Preparation

The ODBCdl4 server software will already have been loaded and configured on your SAI server and a set of table definitions configured for each SAI Environment you intend to access. You must obtain a copy of the ODBCdl4 client executable to install on your PC. To configure the client you will need to know the Hostname or IP address of your SAI server and the name of the SAI Environment(s) you wish to access.

Client Software Installation

You can download a copy of the ODBCdl4 client software from the SAI website at www.sysalt.com/downloads/ODBC/. Once you have obtained a copy of the client executable you must run it (by double clicking on it) to install the software on your PC following all of the default prompts. Note that on 64-bit versions of Windows both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the driver will automatically load from the single executable.

Client Configuration

In order to access the data on your SAI server you must first configure an ODBC Data Source. To do this navigate from your Start Menu à All Programs à Administrative Tools à Data Sources (ODBC).

You should see the “ODBC dl4 Driver 64” listed Under Drivers. If it is not listed then the client software was not successfully installed and you must return to the Client Software Installation step and repeat that procedure.

Click on the “User DSN” tab.

Click on the “Add” button to add a new Data Source definition.

This will bring up a “Create New Data Source” window. Select the “ODBC dl4 Driver 64” driver and then click the “Finish” button.

You will then be asked to enter a name for the Data Source you are creating and other attributes that define the connection as follows:

Data Source: Name that you will use to refer to the connection

Database: Name of the SAI Environment (dl4cres or dl4prod for example)

Host: Hostname or IP Address of your SAI Server

Port: 9635 (Leave as the default port)

Once these fields are filled out, click the “OK” button to accept the definition.

You now have an ODBC Data Source definition that will point at the specified SAI Environment on your SAI server.

64-bit versus 32-bit Data Sources

On 64-bit versions of Windows, both 32-bit and 64-bit ODBCdL4 drivers are installed automatically.

Please note that on 64-bit Windows operating systems, 64-bit applications use only 64-bit DSNs and 32-bit applications use only 32-bit DSNs. To create or modify a 64-bit DSN, use the standard ODBC administrator utility as shown above. To create or modify a 32-bit DSN on a 64-bit operating system, use the 32-bit ODBC administrator which is named odbcad32.exe and can be found in the system \Windows\SysWow64 directory. If the ODBC administrator utility shows the ODBCdL4 driver as "ODBC dL4 Driver 32", then you are using the 32-bit utility. If the utility shows the driver as "ODBC dL4 Driver 64", then you are using the 64-bit utility.

If you are going to use the ODBC driver with both 32-bit applications as well as 64-bit applications on the same PC then you will need to create separate DSNs accordingly and distinguish them with different names as show in the above example with the dl4demo08 Environment.

Testing the Connection

One of the simplest tests of the ODBC connection to your SAI data would be to import an SAI table into an Excel spreadsheet.

From a new or blank spreadsheet within Excel navigate to the “Data” tab. Select the “From Other Sources” shortcut and select the “From Microsoft Query” selection.

You should see the Data Source that you created in the previous step listed. Select that Data Source and click the “OK” button.

You will then see a list of the SAI tables for the selected Data Source. You can select a table of your choosing and click the “ > “ button in the middle of the screen to select all columns for that table, or you could click the “+” box to the left of the table and select on the columns you want.

Once the desired columns are selected click the “Next >” button to continue.

You can then optionally create filter conditions by selecting columns and entering the desired conditions.

Click the “Next >” button to continue.

You can then select sorting options. Again click the “Next >” button to continue.

You will then be asked for the destination of the data. Typically you would accept the default of “Return Data to Microsoft Excel”. Note that you could optionally save the query so you would not have to repeat all of the steps if you wanted to reuse it. Click the “Finish” button to continue.

You will then be asked to select a location from within the spreadsheet to put the data. Clicking the “OK” button will select the default location of the upper left cell of the spreadsheet and import the data from the SAI table into your spreadsheet.

If you receive no errors and the data from the specified table is displayed in the spreadsheet you have successfully installed and configured your ODBCdl4 client driver software and you should then be able to access the data from whatever Microsoft ODBC compliant application you wish in a similar fashion.

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